collections

Getz (Louis and Gertrude) family papers and photographs, 1877-1945

Gertrude (Gertie) Lapidaire was born to Emil and Bertha Lapidaire in Virginia City, Nevada in 1882. In 1902, she married Louis M. Getz (1873-1916), who was the son of Max and Hattie Getz of San Francisco, California. Gertie and Louis had three children: Alvin (b. 1905), Melville (b. 1913), and Louis (b. 1916). Louis Getz was the proprietor, with Harry Lapidaire, of The San Francisco Disaster Company, which offered entertainments and shows in the tent cities that emerged after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. Louis later ran a mattress company and worked for the Riverdale Creamery in San Francisco. Louis Getz died in 1916. Gertrude later married Sam Iralsky, who was vice-president of the Baldwin and Howell Real Estate Company and a member of the Union League Club.

This collection contains a small number of Getz family papers; a scrapbook with clippings relating to the various shows and entertainments that were offered in the tent cities that sprang up after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, including those of Louis Getz's own company, The San Francisco Disaster Company, and that of Burt Heard (a presentation of photographs of the 1906 disaster called Heard's Big Show); Louis Getz's autograph album; and numerous family photographs. The photographs consist primarily of portraits of Getz and Lapidaire family members. These include portraits of Louis and Gertrude (Lapidaire) Getz, portraits (circa 1880) of Emil and Bertha Lapidaire taken in Virginia City, Nevada, photographs of Sam Iralsky, and unidentified family snapshots. Particularly noteworthy among the photographs are two images of family members walking in the ruins of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and fire, a photograph (circa 1910) of men in front of the Riverdale Creamery at 1416-1418 Divisidero Street in San Francisco, a class photograph (circa 1890, with Louis Getz) from a grammar school on Mission Street (in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco).